One wonders why the world insists on re-visiting Rwanda's violent past when it has such a promising future. To be sure, we must never forget, which is why last night's touching service was so important. Today though, when I think of Rwanda, I think of Joyce, Bruce, and Victor, and celebrate the victory of a bright future over a dark past.

Syria lies broken, bloodied, but not quite dead. Faint flickers of national life before the civil war remain, but these are fast being snuffed out; victims of territorial conflict, over which existing democracy and the soothing voice of international arbitration can exert no influence.

With the fiscal situation still tight, and a year to go before an election in which the Chancellor will accuse the opposition of fiscal profligacy, it was never likely that this was going to be a particularly exciting budget - and so it proved.

I got back from Strasbourg last week, where the European Parliament absurdly ships itself each month to vote on various regulations and directives. And, unsurprisingly, there was almost no mention of what happened in any UK newspaper, blog or radio station. To be quite honest with you, it makes me want to bash my head against a wall. What happens in Brussels (and Strasbourg) has far more impact on any of lives than what MPs in Westminster usually bitch and moan about.

This is an important issue, which we need to examine, and which affects the lives of almost everyone in the country. Are we comfortable with the way in which our personal data is collected, and who has access to it? How much does our right to privacy matter, in an age where we share photos and personal details online with so much abandon? What is the balance that needs to be struck between security and liberty?

A modified version of this format should be adopted for Prime Ministers Questions, with a lottery of backbenchers to choose who will make up a 'Prime Ministers Questions' committee in which MPs will have a chance to ask forensic questions about a matter of Government policy.

Professional thin person Victoria Beckham has revealed some of her 'keep fit' regime... thank God! Vic told Allure magazine that she wakes up every day at 6am and takes a four-mile run. That's right... she's one of those sorts! Of course she is, as if there were any doubt.

Bar one or two exceptions, Prime Minister's Questions is exactly the same every week. It is not that it never deals with the serious issues of the day - it does, it is just when these occasional days occur, the result is a solemn affair that journalists and MPs agree is disappointing. Indeed, such a PMQs only really occurs when there is no other choice remaining.

Today the Commons will debate diversity in Parliament. We all know an effective democracy is one that represents all walks of life. Small businessmen and women are the lifeblood of every community. But there are far too few of them in politics.

Words cannot describe the hopelessness I felt emanating from these camps, and I am not surprised that so many families decide to take the next step and leave Syria altogether. If we could just get access and reach them, it might not solve the conflict, but it would lessen the burden for families who have lost everything and ease the pressure on neighbouring countries.

Speaker John Bercow has recently commented that he would like to curb the "yobbery and public-school twittishness" displayed in the House of Commons. But bawling like toddlers fighting at a creche is not an activity exclusive to the mother of all parliaments. Around the world, elected representatives regularly shout, wail, make animal noises, cry and fight. Here are 10 examples...

If MPs can't be trusted to behave like adults, maybe we should take a leaf out of Supernanny's book. Giving MPs a time out for bad behaviour might just be the only way we can get them to play nicely, and learn to respect others.

In Jon Snow's interview with Russell Brand last week the presenter accused the comedian of inconsistency for rallying against parliamentary democracy while asking people to sign a government e-petition. I think Jon missed the point. Russell Brand didn't play by the rules of our parliamentary system, he hacked it.

The political elite has every interest in minimising and dismissing popular protest but it was the anti-war movement that played the crucial role in highlighting government deceit in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq and mobilising and educating so many people.